The time has come....

[Graham]

Okay, $1600 about-ish. The purpose of this PC is going to be video, picture, music storage, GAMING specifically BF:BC2, Medal of Honor 2010, Call of Duty Black Ops, Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Starcraft 2 (requirements are actually a bit high for full blast as I was reading!!!!), and etc etc etc.

CPU, mainboard, and RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.387565

Case: Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

PSU:

Either this combo: Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

or the Corsair alone

GPU: Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100281-3SR Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity

really don't like the heat/power consumption of GTX 400-series (would need a 950W or better PSU that doesn't feature this good a combo for SLI down the raod) so prolly that 5870 more likely, then slap another 5870 in a year when the 6K series are out for cheap Xfire

OS: Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Full

definitely want to jump from XP to 7.... I tried 7 and loved it.

Question about the OS: Do I need the full or can I get the OEM system builder's copy? I heard the OEM system builder's requires a fully formatted HD but nothing more. I'm not sure about this one and don't want to risk buying the OEM and find out I am not allowed to use it for a personal, non resale PC.

HDDs: I have two SATA 3.0 GB/s drives I will use for now.... will get some SSDs when prices go down.

Sound card: Is it really necessary? I have an X-Fi Xtreme Gamer I use and don't think it needs an update and maybe just sell it. I have the X-Fi headphones by creative which I use for gaming.

As far as the CPU cooler goes, I am going to wait on that until I get a dual-GPU setup as I don't see OC'ing as an immediate necessity as it should feed a single 480 or 5870 fine. Thoughts?

 

[Graham]

bump?

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Your CPU/Mobo/RAM are great, same ones I was considering but I decided to get a cheaper Gigabyte mobo (same CPU/RAM though). The GPU is nice though I may opt for a slightly more expensive 5870 that has the reference board design and 5870 heatsink. If you look on Newegg you'll see that Sapphire chose to use a lower end heatsink from the 5830 line on that particular 5870 card. The other 5870's have a fully enclosed heatsink with back plate and a slightly longer PCB. After a lot of looking around I decided to go for a Diamond branded 5870 that had the reference PCB and heatsink for $30 more if just for a nicer heatsink, the reference PCB apparently is better for overclocking as well.

As far as the OS go for the OEM, as long as you only need to use it on a single PC the OEM copy will work fine and you'll save money.

You probably won't need a sound card unless you are an extreme audiophile, most onboard cards these days support 7.1 surround sound, SPDIF output, HD audio. Also the 5870 has it's own SPDIF audio output through the HDMI port if you're using it with a TV or capable receiver.

 

[Graham]

I heard in order to use the OEM software you must format your HDD that you plan to use it on???

Also, I changed up to this GPU:

Newegg.com - XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity

double lifetime warranty seems too good to pass up.... and the HDMI out on the vid card seems pretty awesome.... I didn't know the games could send the sound processing to the vid cards now!?

 

[Sean W.]

The Radeon 5870 is the fastest single processor graphics card on the planet, ( people will dissagree, but it is ) so a 5870 is the right choice. id reccommend at least a 750 watt PSU, or higher if you plan on getting another 5870 down the road.

 

[Graham]

The Radeon 5870 is the fastest single processor graphics card on the planet, ( people will dissagree, but it is ) so a 5870 is the right choice. id reccommend at least a 750 watt PSU, or higher if you plan on getting another 5870 down the road.

I'm sure either the GTX 480 or the 5870 will annihilate my 8800 gts. I am getting a 850W PSU by corsair which should easily handle two of them.

 

[Muffin Man]

The Radeon 5870 is the fastest single processor graphics card on the planet, ( people will dissagree, but it is ) so a 5870 is the right choice. id reccommend at least a 750 watt PSU, or higher if you plan on getting another 5870 down the road.

what review(s) have you been lookin at?

there are a few tests where the 5870 matches and slightly beats the gtx 480, but its become pretty well known that overall the 480 is faster and is the fastest single-gpu gfx card out right now.

 

[Graham]

what review(s) have you been lookin at?

there are a few tests where the 5870 matches and slightly beats the gtx 480, but its become pretty well known that overall the 480 is faster and is the fastest single-gpu gfx card out right now.

Anandtech lists it as being faster in battlefield bad company 2, but slower in crysis. I don't know what reviews to believe, but the performance of either are good. I'm sure the 480 is better, as usual, but I don't give a crap. I have never seen a point in buying the most expensive GPU as the midrange usually appeals to me. Plus, I don't like the way nvidia went with this one. All subjective, no fact, I don't want it. 5870 wins my $.

 

[Muffin Man]

my post wasn't really towards you Graham, it was just regarding this part here,

The Radeon 5870 is the fastest single processor graphics card on the planet, ( people will dissagree, but it is ) so a 5870 is the right choice.

it's not like one card wins a couple tests here, and the other cards wins a couple tests there. yes, the reviews show that the 5870 wins a few, but i am just pointing out that at the end of the day, it's not a case of too-close-to-call; the 5870 is not the fastest single-gpu gfx card out now, it is the gtx 480.

what i said was just based on performance numbers, not including other factors like cost.

but when you start talking about just how much the gtx 480 wins by and possible trade-offs for the performance gain, then it can become a different discussion.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

The 5870 is price comparable to the GTX470 yet power comparable to the GTX480. The best price/performance ratio thus goes to the 5870. Also, all the reviews I've read about the GTX470/80 cards say they get really hot while the ATi 5870 has had great reviews in terms of low power consumption and effective power management. I'm going to use a 650W PSU to power my setup and it could probably take on another HD 5870 should I ever want one. I plan on buying a Kill A Watt meter sometime this summer to see how much my entire PC draws.